


Blowing Kisses

by diademajenks



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, Gaalee Week 2018, M/M, one big fluffernutter sandwich, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 12:42:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14355741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diademajenks/pseuds/diademajenks
Summary: Lee is determined to teach Gaara how to blow kisses, but Gaara doesn't see the point.





	Blowing Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> I intended to publish this ficlet for Day 4 of Gaalee Week 2018, but as you can see...I didn't. I wish I had a good excuse, but honestly it was just bad planning and time management on my part. Huge kudos to Eeri over at puregaalee.tumblr.com for organizing the fest--I only wish I could have been a more timely participant.
> 
> Anyway, this work is inspired by one of igaigataro's excellent drawings (https://igaigataro.tumblr.com/post/141000899313/catching-his-heart). Thank you for creating so much adorable content for this fandom!
> 
> I will post a second part to this soon, but the first part stands on its own.

“I will miss you, Tenten! I wish you and your splendid team could stay longer,” said Lee, pulling Tenten in for one last bone-crushing hug. Gaara noted approvingly that she did not flinch. Presumably, after so many years spent in Gai and Lee’s company, the words 'rib trauma' no longer held any fear for her.

After several moments, Tenten’s feet touched hard-packed sand again, but she did not immediately step away. She set her hands on Lee’s elbows and studied his face. His lower lip was quivering, a sure sign that tears were imminent. 

“It was good to see you, Lee. Come home and visit soon. Gai-sensei misses you, and I can’t find anyone speedy enough for target practice.” She turned to Gaara and bowed slightly. “Kazekage-sama, thank you for your hospitality. Keep this one out of trouble for me.” Lee sniffled as she cheerfully ruffled his hair. 

Gaara merely nodded, but amusement twitched the corners of his mouth.

The visit had been a pleasant one, though he hadn’t seen as much of Tenten as on her previous trips to Suna. Gaara’s duties had kept him busy most of the week, and, unusually, Tenten hadn’t stayed in a guest room in his home. Much to Lee’s dismay, the Anbu captain in charge of the security of the Kazekage's estate had insisted on lodging Tenten and her team in the visitor barracks—the captain could make an exception for a close personal friend of the Kazekage and his family, but allowing three unknown Leaf genin access to the estate was deemed unacceptable. Lee had been unhappy with the arrangement, but Gaara suspected it had come as a relief to the genin. When he arrived at the training grounds one evening to collect Lee and Tenten for dinner, he’d been introduced to three sweaty, bedraggled young shinobi. They had seemed petrified by his presence, yet immensely grateful, as his appearance meant an end to the day’s taijutsu training. The instant Tenten dismissed them, they hightailed it in the direction of one of Suna’s bustling night markets. 

In the shadow of Suna’s massive walls, the early morning air was still cool and dry, but heat was already beginning to shimmer over the nearby dune on which Tenten’s genin team stood waiting. Tenten briefly readjusted the large scroll strapped to her lower back and then jogged out to join them. 

Gaara felt a soft rush of displaced air, and suddenly Lee was twenty feet above him, standing atop the first tier of the sandstone wall.

“So long! Safe travels!” he called, cupping his hands around his mouth.

Out on the dune, Tenten said something to her team, who promptly nodded and took off into the desert. She turned back toward Suna, pressed her palm to her lips, and flung her hand up and out, as though releasing a bird into the air. Gaara narrowed his eyes, scanning the clear blue sky. Had she thrown something to Lee? Why couldn’t he sense it? 

His eyes darted to Lee, who was also focused on the sky, tracking something Gaara could not see. Lee had dropped into a half-crouch, ready to spring, his face serious. The sand twitched inside the gourd as Gaara stiffened, alarm stirring in his chest. What on earth—?

Suddenly, Lee leapt straight up, closed one hand around the air, and landed lightly on his feet again, hand still raised above his head. With exaggerated gestures, he opened a breast pocket on his olive flak jacket, stuck the prize he had captured inside, and gave it two pats for good measure. Then, he waved energetically to Tenten, his smile as bright as the early morning sunshine. Gaara relaxed a hair.

Tenten waved back once more and then disappeared from sight behind the dune.

Lee jumped down next to Gaara, making no noise but raising a little cloud of dust. He bent over to brush off his leg warmers. 

Gaara folded his arms and eyed Lee curiously. “What was that?”

Lee looked up, a puzzled look on his face. “What?”

“Your...exchange with Tenten just now."

“Oh! She blew me a kiss,” he replied, turning his attention back to his other leg warmer, as if his answer was perfectly self-explanatory.

“Why?”

“Why?” Lee pursed his lips as he considered how to answer this. “Well, Tenten and I have done it since we were genin.” He suddenly straightened, brow furrowed. “You are—it does not bother you, does it? It is only an old habit."

“Of course not.” It had never occurred to Gaara to be jealous of Tenten. She was as much Lee’s sister as Temari was his. But if she wanted to kiss Lee goodbye, why hadn't she done so a minute ago, while she was right there? “But what does it mean?"

Lee relaxed visibly. “Oh! Well, I suppose blowing a kiss is a way to say goodbye to a loved one when you are apart, but can still see each other!” As if to answer Gaara’s unspoken question, he added, “It is a most youthful expression of affection between friends, but I think Tenten wanted to send her team off first. Tomomi-kun does like to tease her a lot."

Gaara nodded thoughtfully. He recalled hearing one of the genin call Tenten ‘Dango-sensei’.  Maybe not the most respectful nickname for one’s captain, but it was certainly fitting.

They walked in comfortable silence for several minutes, following the belt of blue sky framed by the walls back toward the village. The low drone of cicadas promised another hot day.

After a while Gaara asked, “Why did you put the kiss in your pocket?”

“So it cannot fly away!” Lee had the decency to look sheepish at the incredulous glance Gaara gave him. “Ah, I mean, if you get lonely, you can reach inside your pocket and a kiss will be waiting.”

Gaara hummed in acknowledgment. It was a nice idea, if a little foolish. He wondered if Lee realized he had put Tenten’s kiss in the same pocket he kept his explosive tags.

“Do people from Suna not blow kisses?” asked Lee.

Gaara tried to imagine any of his sober, unflappable jounin blowing kisses and failed. Perhaps some of the younger shinobi might, but come to think of it, in all his years spent quietly observing Suna, he had never seen any of the villagers do it either. He shook his head.

A flicker of inspiration suddenly lit up Lee's face, and he punched his palm with his fist. He danced a few steps ahead and then turned around. "Come on, Gaara, try it! It is easy!” 

Gaara fixed Lee with a long stare. It was one thing to study the intricacies of normal social interactions—as Kazekage, it was his duty to understand how his people related to each other--but that did not mean he had to participate, even if he was just humoring Lee.

“I don’t see the point,” he admitted finally. 

In front of him, Lee sagged a bit, so he stepped forward and added, “Besides, why would I blow a kiss when I can have a real one?"

“Oh,” said Lee, going very red as Gaara took hold of his flak jacket.


End file.
